Whatch out for 2018 Super Antivirus for Android: is not really an antivirus

When we are configuring the security and protection of our devices, one of the first apps we use to install is an antivirus. At present, there exist a great variety of antivirus for all operating systems, some of them more known than the others which, little by little, are opening their way into the users system because of its reliability. However, all the antivirus systems are affected by a problem for the safety, the big amount of fake antivirus that exist on the network and mean a threat to our system when what we look for is, precisely, the opposite.

When we talk about fake antivirus surely it comes to our minds a Windows system where we have downloaded an app that tell us we have tens of virus on the system and invite us to pay a licence to erase them. These apps normally install another apps (which is known as adware) so our system is full of apps that has nothing to do with security.

The same that happens on Windows, happens on other operating systems, like Android. Besides of all the malicious apps that sneak into the Play Store and infect the users trhough the Official app store, the Sophos security experts has just detected a new fake antivirus, called 2018 Super Antivirus, for Android which was been distributed trhough the Play Store putting in danger the users devices.

2018 Super Antivirus 2018, neither super nor antivirus for Android

This fake antivirus for Android came to the Play Store last month October 2017, and since then it had been downloaded more than 50.000 times. According to its description, this antivirus was capable of detecting the 100% of malware on Android trhough a series of personalized scanners.

After analyze the code of this great antivirus, the Sophos security experts found out that was not an antivirus, but a fake antivirus. This has no function of analysis or security, but all it does is to give a placebo effect with false tests and show advertising in the users devices that installed it asking them to download other paid security app that, besides, is another fake antivirus.

Despite of being sold as an antivirus, this app hasn’t have an scanner or a malware erase function, it tricks the users to think they have a virus on Android and it recommends to download another anti-malware.

Sophos has baptized it as Andr/FakeAV-B and Google has already eliminated the app of the Play Store.

¿What should i do if i have installed 2018 Super Antivirus in Android?

In case of having installed this fake antivirus for some reason, what we should do is to uninstall it as soon as possible to evoid it to keep tricking us, By itself, it doesn’t seem that this antivirus download and install other apps or malware, so once we have erased the 2018 Super Antivirus of Android, our system should be protected again.

Despite of it, it is better that, once uninstalled, we analyze our smartphone with a real antivirus to be sure that our system is clean.